There are many prior art systems and methods of monitoring animals. A particular group of these systems are those that identify an animal upon approaching a certain location. After a system has identified an animal, a frequent objective is to measure the weight of the animal at affixed location, such as disclosed in the documents WO98/47351, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,617,876, 5,988,106, 4,517,923, 4,920,923, and US2004/199275. Measuring the weight of the animals provides the system with information for controlling the feed intake of the individual animals in order to increase feed efficiency. Another related measurement is milk production, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,923, which is likewise used to optimise productivity.
An analysis of a particular property of the individual animals over a series of time is used in U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,672 to evaluate the ‘physical condition’ of the herd. The activity of an animal is measured in documents including GB2058359, U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,294, WO2004/096044, WO03/055388 and EP0743043. Other systems include measurements of temperature U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,892, DE4025404 and DE19710342 or body position DE4227483 in order to detect illness or oestrus, or acceleration WO02/091001 as a measurement of activity.
A common system of identifying individual animals is using ID tags containing passive transponders, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,617,876 and 4,532,892, wherein the transponder circuit is powered by an electromagnetic field from the receiver when in range. This method eliminates the need for the ID tag to carry a power supply, but restricts the use of the tag to a particular location. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,876 the system is triggered when an animal enters a stall comprising a weighing system. The ID tag is sensed and the weight of the animal is received by a computer means.
GB2297225 discloses a transponder system in which two-way communication is enabled. These systems also contain a means of identifying an animal whose tag is malfunctioning, resulting in an operated being alerted.
Various systems require active transmitters, such as in GB2058359, wherein the data collection unit stores signals relating to the movement of the animal then sends the data at periodic intervals to a receiver. EP808567 similarly discloses data logging apparatus for fitting to an animal that logs signals from movement sensors, and an onboard processor. Also included is a timing means to regulate when the onboard processing means commences and ceases.
Systems such as in WO98/47351 have a central ‘large-size’ computer that receives signals from smaller microprocessors which initially process the received sensor information. The sensors of this document include internal sensor devices that also have the ability to deliver a substance such as a vaccine. This document also proposes a central computerised database containing information about all cattle in the world.
Systems of displaying information recorded from animal sensors are generally disclosed in numerous documents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,876 and WO98/47351, wherein an operator may view information generated by the processors on a computer display.
The “health monitoring’ system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,882 links sensors recording physiological information from one or more human patients, to a central database that communicates the information to other databases such as in a hospital or a physicians office for review. The data collected is general data that can be analysed to determine patterns that may indicate illness. The patient is required to manually connect the data logger to a data transfer device on a regular basis. The physician can communicate back to the patient using the same communication channels.
The system disclosed in US2002/010390 discloses the use of wireless relays to provide improved range and battery life by forwarding on the signals received from animals in a field. The receivers disclosed include any RF receivers and receivers linked to a network, such as a cellular phone network, or the internet. The aim of the transmission of the information is to alert an operator via a receiver, particularly via a portable device such as a PDA.
The document WO01/89368 discloses a health/caloric intake device for humans that is wrist-mounted and has the functions of data storage, data processing and data transmission and reception. The wrist-mounted device is configured to receive data from other sensors mounted on the person or devices via wireless transmission, such as Bluetooth. The data is then transmitted to an electronic display device, such as a computer, TV or PDA, or the data is transmitted to a remote computer system using the Internet for storage in a database or display to an authorised person.
The systems of the prior art that use passive sensors require substantial infrastructure to be installed and maintained for their use. They require a system of stalls wherein each has a communications system for activating the sensors and receiving the data.
Most of the systems that use active sensors that collect data periodically are limited by the potential to share and display the information collected, as it is only kept within a localised computer system. The system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,882 requires a human patient to manually connect the data logger to a transfer system, from where the data is transferred to a hospital database. The system of WO01/89368 has a combined data-logger and data-relay device which is worn by a human patient. The combined device is required to have a substantial battery in order to function, and has a transmission range and use limited by the battery.
Absent from the prior art is a system that can be used for monitoring non-human animals, that can automatically transfer data collected by data-loggers worn by the animal hosts, and that makes that data conveniently available to many people including animal health care professionals such as veterinarians, and the owners/caretakers of the animals.